Patriots Day 2011

The commemoration of the battles of Lexington and Concord continues another year and frankly the world should be grateful for that.

We remain the world’s great shining light of freedom and democracy, even if our national government can’t agree on virtually anything at this point in time.

Since April, 1775 and throughout our national history, this Patriots Day commemoration appeared destined to be celebrated well into eternity. We know this isn’t possible because nothing lasts forever.

Nations rise and nations fall. They rise and fall because this is the way of life. It is about the natural order of things.

Presently, the United States is so far removed from the passion and the sacrifice that led to the Battles of Lexington and Concord that we hardly know the way.

We are fighting seemingly endless battles in faraway lands, draining the nation of its precious resources and now having a budget battle to take benefits away from those who find it difficult to care for themselves.

Early on, the battles at Lexington and Concord against the invincible British Empire proved the substance of American fighters and of American dogma – that we were a people rising up who wanted to be free.

Now the trick would be to reignite the energy that brought this nation to be and to destroy the demons facing us, and enter into a future far more appealing than it appears today.

Patriots Day is more than a day to run a marathon or to attend a Red Sox game at Fenway Park.

It is a day to commemorate sacrifice and heroism, to remember what came before.